Redharris

This is my Story. Anyone Else have a similar experience with the Stock FM Radio system that comes with th 1/8 Nitros?

My Buddy was breaking in his Avalanche. Making 1/2 throttle runs and slowing down, and repeating. He brought the Vehicle to a stop to see how much gas was left. The truck took off at about 20 mph and slammed into a wall. He says the truck didnt respond at all to radio commands. No braking,no turning, nothing. Batteries were new, and a failsafe was installed by me, and was working the evening before the incident.

Now, my buddy is a newb, and I might be inclined to doubt the details of his story if the SAME Thing had not happened to me when I was breaking in my Monsoon.
Monsoon was Brand new, I was breaking it in on the street in front of my house. The idle was a bit high and I was running at no more than 1/4 throttle and easing the throttle on and off. I had to stop the car and let my neighbor pull out of his driveway. The monsoon was braked and idling no more than 25 feet away from me. I noticed the front wheels started TWITCHING back and forth (no input from me), then the car started rolling towards the curb.
The car would not respond to braking or steering and speed was increasing. Thinking Fast, I turned my Transmitter off, to trip the Failsafe. The car continued to pick up speed an wedged itself underneath a Chevy Pickup Truck.
My Batteries were new and fully charged. My failsafe was working 15 minutes earlier (I ALWAYS test it before and during runs). I can find no Physical faults with the electronics. (no bad switches, no broken wires.) Radios seem to be working Now, after the fact.

Summary:
2 different radio systems (same Stock27 MHz FM model) fail on 2 separate occasions. These occurrences took place 15 miles apart from each other, so there was Probably no common source of interference. The Failsafe (on MY truck) failed to activate after I switched off my Transmitter.

What do you guys think?

jumpanddrop

sounds like redcat better start supplying a little beter radio's with the 1/8 redcats. i was also thinking, why dont they get rid of that fancy lcd,fm radio system and go with a simple goood quality radio???. it would be aot better i think. we dont need that fancy thing that we cant figure out to adjust anyways

firebird78

was ya runnin a humppack??...not kidding ya...ya run AA's in the reciever ur askin fer trouble...it doesnt take much fer one to work loose...and ur failsafe cant activate if it doesnt have current

jumpanddrop

dosent sound like that at all b/c he was stoped when the thing took off. if a AA fell out the truck would just sit there

Redharris

Lol...I hear what you're sayin jumpanddrop. I hate readin those Manuals too. I woulda never figured out how to work it at ALL if I didnt have a 3 Channel Futaba that has a Manual that is understandable! I dont want anybody to think I have a problem with Chinese Folk, but those Redcat Manuals Suck!

P.S. Ive since installed THAT radio in my Monsoon[:@]

firebird78

mine took off and hit a wall once....I assume it was because a loose reciever battery...since then I changed my radio to a jr system

mrlee2071

Hi Red,
I had a similar problem/outcome. As for me though, I'm not sure that the problem was the radio. Time will tell. I was on my 5th tank of fuel and was just starting to gas it, short bursts. The throttle stuck wide open and nothing would respond. Now to be fair, I did not have a fail safe, I know, dumb. After the crash inspection revieled the carb stuck wide open. I unhooked the servo arm and the carb would not close. Could this be from the crash? Maybe. The radio operated fine after the crash. I just got the car back together tonight (with a fail safe and humpback and new wheels and tires) thanks to Redcat, Clearmont, RUfaster and Allaboutfunhobbies and supersales. THANK YOU ALL!
But, but, but, time will tell this weekend if the radio is operating proberly.
Hope you can get this figured out bro.
Lee

Redharris

Yes I was runnin a Hump Pack, and every thing was charged up.
I'm thinkin it might be a Faulty Receiver, Since my Failsafe failed (no pun intended) to actuate the brake. And BOTH servos were Unresponsive.

mrlee2071

Oh yeah, I had to replace my receiver as well.
I hope that does it.
Lee

Redharris

That could be ....Just an intermittant connection, but I'm not trusting that Stock Radio,,,,,no how! Its now a paperweight. Almost not worth the time to troubleshoot....

My buddy bent the Pan and did $150 damage to his Avalanche.
All I did was break a couple body mount posts. So, I'm not takin any more chances on that set up....

5lagd

anyone know of any kind of electronic interference that will send the receiver a false signal?

jumpanddrop

mhmm i dont know what to do now. i want to get a avalanche in a bit but that radio sounds like junk. mmm and if i go RTM it dosent come with the SH .28 and i want that. i gess i might have to take my AM out of my hpi and use that. Thats the worst thing ever, geting a brand new R/C and you total it b/c of a s&^&y radio[]

firebird78

i changed systems so I could change frequencies...so I cant say either way..im still betting a battery came loose on mine

mrlee2071

Remember, as for me, I'm not sure it was the radio. But, Redcat is still an awesome car/truck. You can still buy the RTR and purchase a different radio and still be in it for less than most other car/trucks out there.
Just my opinion.
Lee

kuppler

SOOO true Bro....

firebird78

ohh yeah totaly agree...Im verrrrrrrrry pleased with my redcats...if I wasnt I wouldnt have bought 3 in about 3 months..lol...seems like u here alot of rtr's radio gear isnt the best and needs replaced...and say if redcat put spektrum radios in the box it would just up the cost of the car...thats why the rtm are sooo kewl....granted if u buy say a hurricane and want the sh.28 ya pay more and still need a radio system...but still an excellent buy...maybe thats something Darin needs to look into..I mean giving a discount on engines if someone purchases a rtm and still wants the redcat engine....just a thought...either way still a good bang fer ur buck

jumpanddrop

i see your point....a spectrum would bring the cost of the car up alot. But if they put somthing like this in it it would be about the same price, good quality, easy to use and probebly wont have trouble with $h!^y radio's anymore.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...I=LXASX3**&P=0
or
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...I=LXNHS3**&P=0

nitronoob08

tcb 80 and i were out breaking in his tsunami and my OS.18 when his fm controler pooped out and ran him right into a fence post breaking his drive cup

Cam_132

ya i have that same one as the top one and i love it... it is a cheep AM and i currentily use it in my Tornado. and it has lots of power for the steering servos and the reacon was i allso had the same problam but with the stock AM... but the only thing was after about 2 sec with out throtal or steering i regained control so what i did was took the whole stock system out and replaced it with that one. and the servos have a lot more power than the stcok ones so that one is a good one. i have had some glytching on this one but not bad... not bad Enof to make it crap out and get a runaway witch i had with the stock! [&o] but i got the buggy hung up on a rock then it... well ran in the spot. lol. like it reved up high with no control ontop of a rock and the wheels were not toutching the ground then later i found a broken wire on the stock throtal servo and it shorted the whole radio out... on the stock but now i am all good!

bbb18c1

[] Now you all have me worried. I have not had any problems with my FM radio yet, but I think I should just get another radio before mine craps out.

I think I'll just get another Futaba 2ph since I have that for the Quake and its a good solid radio and cheap too.

My only concern is the loss of range switching from FM to AM. Anyone know what the difference (if any) in range between the two bands?

I haven't really noticed any increase in range of the stock FM vs the Futaba AM, so I'm guessing its negligible.

jumpanddrop

mhhm. im not sure. you could just spend a little more money and buy the one i listed on the bottom. i have the stock am radio on my hpi and it go's far. like so far that i cant tell which what the car is pointing. i dont think you need any better range then that. i think that the servo's on the 1/8 are preaty good for stock one's but a new radio system would be sweet. i think that redcat could do it for the same price as the one they are using now.

bbb18c1

I also find the the Futaba 2ph my quake has great range already. I don't think that I would dare go far enough to take advantage of the extra range offered by the fm system. Maybe thats why I don't notice a difference in range between the fm and am radio.

Since I am tight on cash, I will probably get the 2ph.

firebird78

im bettin they pay alot less then what they could get them for....ya gotta remember ur talkin at most a $300 rc (affordable sells all models for $300 or less)...and they arent in business to give em away...now granted thats with towers mark up...just think redcat would have to buy a ton of them to keep the price somewhat the same...now it may be to were u have to pay $20 or $30 more for a rc..are you willing to do that? plus everything is packaged overseas....he would have to ship them overseas for packaging or hire people to package them when the rc's come here...eithe rway ur adding cost...and if it costs redcat more to provide the product the product's price will rise...sure redcat could put diff radios in...diff tires, wheels..u name it....but the fact is the more it costs them the more it costs us..

jumpanddrop

i gess. i know redcat cant do everything right now. they have been comeing out with new things like the RTM and the 1/5 scales but ithink it would be cool it you could chose certain things. i know it could get complictated but it would be cool if i could order a new avalalnche with everything minus the rdaio system and have them knock like 30-40 off the price. then i could put that money towards a new radio system. i know that when i oder the avalanche, the fist thing thats going is the radio and im buying a cheep futaba to put on it.

firebird78

yeah...im just saying I like the prices were they are..what would be ideal is if the majority of the forum showed intrest in one certain radio and redcat got a great price on a bunch of them and passed some of the savings onto us...anytime u buy in large quanities u can usually get them for better price...keep in mind redcat is a fairly new company...just look..coming out with rtm's..1/5ths..looking to offer diff suspension for the hurricane...be totally diff if they were like this is what we got ya want it or not..were not doing anything diff...but it doesnt seem that way...they are making changes..just be patient and maybe it will happen in the future..